To break a love charm
by thecagedsong
Summary: Lucy finally gets around to telling her friends about the first time she met Natsu, and some eavesdropping later things get intense.


**So I don't own Fairy Tail, and this is based off the fandom rumor that was circling a while ago about a soul mate needed to break a love charm. It is not cannon, just a fun idea.**

"So Lucy, I don't think I ever heard how you met Natsu." Levy asked while the two of them were sitting at the bar. Lucy and her spirits needed a day or two off from magic so she convinced Natsu to wait before picking their next job. He was currently picking a fight with Gray on the other side of the room. A quick glance was sent to her partner before she responded.

"I don't think anyone actually knows." Lucy said, surprised at herself, "Isn't that a little weird? Natsu drags a total stranger into the guildhall and I'm a member right off the bat. I thought I was going to have to be interviewed or tested or something, but Master just smiled at his 'new recruit' and told Mira to give me the mark." It wasn't the strangest thing to happen, but considering all the worry she put into trying to figure out how to join Fairy Tail, it was almost anticlimactic. She started tracing the mark that changed her life with her other hand.

Apparently Mira had been enjoying her favorite pastime of eavesdropping and came over to talk to them.

"You really want to know Lucy? First was the fact that just after Natsu left Cana's cards showed a very important new member would be arriving soon. Second was that none of had seen Natsu that truly happy in ages. Natsu's energy was missed, so we all simply accepted you because you brought it back. Plus, if you were hanging around him, Master knew that you could handle the craziness of our guild." Mira gave her trademark smile then and Lucy started to observe the fire breather, wondering what else he could have been like. A Natsu that wasn't hyper was like a Cana that wasn't drinking: impossible to imagine.

"Sooooo, what's the story? How did you first meet Natsu?" Levy prodded again, pulling up her chair like it was storytime, Mira joined her as well..

"Well," Lucy started, thinking back, "I was in Hargeon looking for gate keys, which was basically all I was doing until I could figure out how to get into Fairy Tail, and I found Plue. After leaving I heard a rumor that Salamander of Fairy Tail was in town, so I followed the mob of girls till I saw him. Honestly I thought it was love at first sight." Lucy laughed at the memory, while Mira and Levy looked at her with huge eyes, before both letting out a squeal.

"Did you just say you fell in love with Natsu the first time you looked at him!" Mira shrieked, drawing the attention of the entire guild. Even Natsu and Gray, even though they hadn't heard the exact words, stopped fighting to look over at the bar. Lucy turned bright red, curse her story-telling skills!

"NO! It wasn't like that! You didn't give me a chance to finish. Now would the rest of you please go back to your own business? This is a private conversation." Lucy huffed and the rest of the guild went back to their conversations, though keeping one ear on the three girls, especially the ones that understood Mira's squeal. Lucy continued while Natsu made his way to the bar to see why his name was being mentioned.

"The guy was only pretending to be Natsu so that his love charm would be more effective. He had the whole mob of girls infatuated. Natsu broke through the crowd to see if it was Igneel, and that startled me enough to realize the infatuation magic. The rest of the girls didn't though and as soon as Natsu bad mouthed the fake Salamander they started attacking him, they lined up and everything. It was hilarious!" Lucy laughed at the infamous Salamander being beaten up by a pack of love struck girls. "I didn't even know he was a wizard till later when he saved me and a boat full of magic entranced girls about to be sold on the slave markets. Natsu joined the party because Bora was claiming to be part of Fairy Tail, but got motion sick right off the bat. I destroyed the harbor, Natsu destroy the town, and soon enough we were running from the town guard and Natsu was taking me to Fairy Tail." Levy and Mira still had that wide-eyed look and it was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. She turned to Natsu who had sat down next to her.

"What's up Lucy? You talking about me?" he asked.

"Just telling the insanity twins over there how we first met. I can't believe I ever thought Bora was you."

"Well, I just felt bad that you rewarded me for something I wasn't even trying to do. I thought Bora was Igneel when the rumors went around, so thinking he was me is a little better than that." Natsu grinned. It was always better when protecting Fairy Tail's reputation came with beating up honestly bad people.

Next to Lucy, Levy seemed to be able to get her mouth to function again, "This is even better than love at first sight! Don't you know that since Natsu bro—" A hand covered Levy's mouth as Mira then proceeded to drag the other mage into the kitchen. All it took was a shared look before the two partners and they were crouching next to the door and listening in.

"What the hell Mira?" Levy demanded, sounding annoyed, "Why did you interrupt me?" Lucy could just imagine the arms-folded glare the bookworm was giving the S class mage. Information was everything to Levy and Mira had just stopped her from spilling some.

"You can't just whack people over the head with that kind of information. If they aren't ready you could mess them up." Mira sounded insistent.

"Nothing can mess them up Mira, it's in the definition. There are three ways to get around a love charm: get the caster to stop using it, be aware of the charm before it gets used, and intervention from one's _soul mate_. Lucy broke out of the spell as soon as she saw Natsu, and by definition nothing we could do would be able to keep them apart. Soul mates are literally drawn to the other person's soul and no one will ever fit as perfectly. Trust me, I read all about it, and there is no way those two could have spent all that time together, be soul mates, and not fallen in love." Lucy and Natsu had frozen in their eavesdropping positions as soon as they had heard the words "soul mate". Neither daring to move.

"I know that," Mira hissed back, "I want them to be together more than anything, but how would you feel being told that you have a soul mate sitting right next to you? Both of them know next to nothing about love and it would have seriously freaked them out! It's not fair and while it is impossible to screw them permanently, you can screw them up for a while. Let them figure it out on their own." Mirajane finished her little speech and they heard Levy grumble her acceptance. Realizing they were standing in front of the only exit from the kitchen, the team jumped back.

"Run?" Lucy asked. Natsu was luckily on the same wavelength yet again and the two dashed out of the Guild Hall, running towards the forest and their special fishing spot. Catching their breath, they sank down.

"Huh, I thought for sure that you wouldn't want to talk to me right now," Natsu said to his partner once Lucy caught her breath.

"I, uh, why is that?" Lucy asked, her face getting redder despite having stopped running. Natsu shrugged.

"Well, normally you like to handle relationship problems alone, I thought this counted." He was right, but she quelled the sudden instinct to run away from him. They had been teammates for over a year now though, and stronger than her desire to cover her embarrassment was the instinct to talk to Natsu when she felt unsure or scared. Still, beating around the bush a little more couldn't hurt.

"Well, do you particularly want to talk to me about this?" Natsu looked right at her eyes then, seeming to choose his words carefully for once.

"I don't really see it as a problem, but you would." That startled her into breaking the intense eye contact. Blushing red again she started picking at the grass.

"Yeah… wait, how do you feel about this?"

"It's not really surprising I guess. You've always been weird, and if that's because you're my soul mate it explains a lot. Even though you have only been a part of Fairy Tail for year, I don't think I could imagine it without you anymore. One time when Igneel sent me into town for some new clothes I asked him about the couples and families, he said that girls and boys sometimes found someone that makes them happy and they want to spend every day together, so they do. I don't really like ever spending days without you, so it makes sense." Lucy was silent, trying to process everything Natsu was saying. Could the Dragon Slayer really be her soul mate? She hasn't gone on enough dates or had enough experience to really tell. At the same time, was it possible to find someone who fit with her better than Natsu did? He accepted her as who she was, and made her want to become a stronger and better person, while at the same time never letting her get away with being stupid. Mom's last letter did say something about that.

Natsu wasn't sure what her silence meant, but she seemed more confused than angry, so that was a good sign. "And it isn't like we have to change anything anyway," he added.

"What do you mean? People spend their whole lives looking for their soul mates, we can't just ignore it." Lucy looked up at him again.

"People also spend their whole lives waiting for just one day of the excitement we get on a regular basis; we don't have to be most people."

Lucy went back to her intense staring contest with the ground, but she looked a little less confused now. Natsu then brought out a fishing pole he kept stashed in a nearby tree and started to fish, leaving Lucy with her thoughts.

Maybe it wasn't a bad thing to have Natsu as a soul mate. While they were comfortable with each other, it was never boring, and she couldn't deny he had some pretty attractive muscles. It was much better than her soul mate being a pasty fat merchant. Plus just because she met her soul mate when she was this young didn't mean they had to commit to anything, Natsu was right. They weren't normal people and both of them still had some growing up to do.

Though, dating other guys would be kind of stupid since she had already had her soul mate. Levy had said it wasn't possible to have spent so much time with Natsu and not fallen in love with him, so did she love him?

_Yes,_ her mind answered before she could think the implications through. Oh, so that tingly feeling she had when he smiled, the way she wants him to find Igneel almost as much as he does, and the whole 'don't want to do a mission without him' thing actually meant something. Natsu seemed pretty chill with wherever she wanted their relationship to go, so she hoped what she was going to do was all right.

"Natsu?" he looked up at her and Lucy bit her lip, "Um, well, do you, you know, love me?" I asked. She wasn't sure why this was important, but if she loved him this question came next right?

"Uh, well yeah. Didn't I already say that?" Natsu was blushing and confused, it was downright adorable. This was so much better than the vague romantic confessions she had sometimes dreamed about, or the strong sure ones you read about in novels. This was so utterly real. She quieted his fidgeting with a small giggle.

"Well, I think I sorta love you too. But let's stay away from romantic relationships right now, okay?"

"Sure," Lucy let out a sigh of relief and let herself relax, "but can you stop kicking me out of bed and shrieking every morning." She sat up and glared at him.

"It's my bed in my house! I can kick you out whenever I feel like it."

"Shoot, thought this would get me a good night's rest for at least a week." Lucy snorted at that. A comfortable silence settled and for a moment Lucy could see her and Natsu sitting in this same spot ten years from now; powerful, adult, S class mages, with a ring barely sparkling on her left hand and keys at her belt. The image didn't scare her as much as she thought it would. She could just picture the faint scars on their bodies, telling their battles and amazing adventures so they wouldn't have to. Crawling over to sit next to Natsu, she watched the river flow by with her head on his shoulder. Natsu caught a fish that he put in a pile for them to give to Happy later, and when he settled back down again, an arm came around her shoulders.

They spent the rest of the afternoon like that, it wasn't fishing season so the interruptions were few and far between, and eventually Lucy fell asleep. The next day Lucy walked into the guildhall and scolded Gray to put some clothes on. She chatted with Mira, Erza and Levy before looking over the request board with Natsu and Happy to decide on their next mission. It was as if nothing had changed, and in reality nothing had. The perks of falling in love with your best friend, she guessed.

**A/N: I love the idea of Natsu being totally nonchalant with being romantically attatched to Lucy. Romance has never been a priority or a theme for him, so he'll probably wake up one day, realize that he loves her and never wants to be without her and propose that afternoon. Just a short little thing to make up for my absence, working on a couple of multichapter stories, and I'm having trouble finishing them. I have two stories I will be posting on November 9****th**** for Wendy day.**

**Endurance and Courage to you,**

**thecagedsong**


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